Chapter 58 – Devoured by Fate
The basement lay shrouded in stale darkness.
Books were scattered across the stone floor, sheets of paper covered in scribbles and cryptic notes littered the desk in complete disorder. Not a sound could be heard.
A quill lay abandoned at the edge of the desk, its tip still wet with ink, the half-written sentence below it frozen mid-stroke—as if its owner had been writing something important, only to be interrupted and forced to leave in a hurry.
In the corner of the desk sat an unremarkable glass sphere.
Its dull, smoky-gray surface made it look insignificant, yet the occasional swirl of murky mist inside hinted that it was anything but ordinary.
…
"I'm not sensing any hellish presence here."
…
"Upstairs is clear."
…
"The disturbance last time… came from down here."
…
Voices drifted faintly through the door—muffled but recognizable as two young men.
As they spoke, the glass sphere suddenly began to roll.
It slipped off the desk with a soft thunk, paused on the floor… and then, unnaturally, began to roll again—smoothly, purposely—across the perfectly flat stone tiles.
The gray sphere blended almost seamlessly with the dusty floor.
When the door creaked open and the two men entered, neither noticed it. And so the sphere continued its quiet journey, rolling… rolling… until it stopped right in the path of one particular young man.
"I swear, the anomaly was right here," Charles said, puzzled. "But now it's just… gone."
"Probably a drifting wraith," the white-suited youth replied casually. "They never stay in one spot."
"Wandering tourism… I guess being dead hasn't ruined their holiday plans."
Charles's joking died mid-step as he felt something under his boot.
He shifted his foot and glanced down—a gray glass sphere stared up at him.
It looked perfectly ordinary. Charles picked it up, turning it between his fingers. Nothing strange at first glance. But then True Sight flashed a warning across his vision:
[A glass orb containing spiritual power.
Be careful—it may harbor hostility toward you.]
Hostility?
From a glass ball?
Charles frowned, about to hand it to Elliot for inspection when a streak of gray light exploded from the orb—too fast for him to react.
It shot straight into his eye.
Charles cried out.
"What happened?" Elliot turned at once, frowning as he approached. "Did something hit you?"
"N-no… probably just imagined it." Charles blinked rapidly.
But he was rattled.
He could've sworn he heard someone screaming.
He stared back down at the orb—the smoky gray was gone.
It had turned completely transparent.
No more alerts from True Sight.
No trace of supernatural energy.
Charles hesitated, then tossed the orb onto the desk and turned toward the nearest bookshelf.
"Hope there's something useful here," he murmured, and began to search.
Earlier, before descending to the basement, he'd thoroughly ransacked the castle for clues—finding nothing but legends, folklore, knightly ballads… nothing helpful.
Elliot, noticing how engrossed he was, finally spoke up.
"You should take these books back and look through them later. It's getting dark.
Traveling at night is a demon's delight—not a wise decision."
"Fine," Charles admitted, snapping shut the book. "But with this many… our carriage won't fit them all."
"We can hire another locally," Elliot replied. Then he added, almost reluctantly,
"I found no supernatural trace in the castle. Still… I don't recommend you stay here."
"Why?" Charles asked. Elliot was not someone who spoke without reason.
"I'm not sure," Elliot said, brow furrowed. "But that mayor we met when we arrived… something about him isn't normal."
…
Upon leaving the castle, Charles subtly studied the sleazy mayor again.
But the man seemed painfully ordinary.
Even True Sight gave no unusual reading.
Still, Charles wasn't arrogant enough to dismiss Elliot's instincts.
True Sight showed nothing—
but that only meant whatever was hidden lay beyond its conceptual knowledge.
Something too alien… too outside the framework for him to perceive.
And that was far more unsettling.
…
A hired carriage soon arrived, and the two of them rushed back to Pita City before the moon rose.
Charles thanked Elliot and returned home—then immediately set to work.
The basement had yielded stacks of documents and books.
No sorting, no cataloguing—just piles and piles.
Trying to find something specific among them was like searching for a needle in the ocean.
He considered hiring help, but none of his servants were literate.
The only one who could read, old housekeeper Grace, suffered from presbyopia and could barely make out the text.
So he sent her off to rest and tackled the chaos alone.
He decided he would hire several scribes the next morning to help sift through it all.
Honestly, if it weren't so late, he would have hired them immediately.
He read for hours—book after book, document after document—until his head throbbed and his vision blurred.
Eventually, utterly exhausted, he slumped over the desk and fell asleep among the papers
In his dream, Charles seemed to become a girl—
born into a wealthy household, with long jet-black hair and beautiful emerald eyes.
As a child, she had been a gentle little angel, trailing behind her mother all day long.
She never cried, never fussed, and greeted the world with boundless curiosity.
As she grew into a young woman, her personality shifted.
Rebellion bloomed in her heart.
She no longer obeyed her parents' instructions without question; instead, she resisted them at every turn.
At a grand social ball, she fell for a young noble.
After their first date, she gave him her first time.
But afterward, the noble's courteous manners vanished.
He became cold, distant.
Unwilling to accept it, she chased after him obsessively.
Finally, in irritation, he tossed her a notebook.
It was filled with black magic.
He said that if she mastered the contents, he would be willing to be with her.
If I just learn everything in this book…
he'll love me again.
Yes—just like that.
And so the girl plunged into study.
Day and night, she shut herself indoors, never going out, never attending another social event.
Her family noticed her change, but no amount of strict scolding from her father or gentle persuasion from her mother could stop her descent into obsession.
One day her younger brother stumbled upon her secret, but she threatened him with her own secret in turn—and so the matter was quietly buried.
Time passed.
Life regained its normal rhythm, and the girl grew into a refined noblewoman.
Her days became peaceful, even pleasant…
except for the nagging voices of family and the suffocation of parental control.
At last, after her coming-of-age ceremony, she decided to leave.
She ignored her parents' protests, ignored her family's longing, and departed.
From her homeland of Roen County, she passed bustling Bone County, then the quiet Giny County, lingered for a while on the border between the Dulin Kingdom and the Shawan Empire, and finally arrived in a tiny settlement outside the seaside city of Pita—
a place called Canyon Town.
There, she became its baroness.
Her plan was simple:
master the notebook's black magic, then travel to the capital to find the man she still loved.
But one morning, as she walked through town, she unexpectedly saw her white knight again.
She thought she was dreaming.
But it was real.
Their old relationship rekindled instantly.
And for years afterward, he visited her regularly.
Little by little, her desire to return to the capital faded.
Even when her father sent urgent letters…
even when her mother fell ill and died…
she never returned home.
Was it resistance?
Or fear?
She didn't know.
She only knew she obeyed everything her lover requested of her.
Through him, she adopted a brown-haired little girl named Annie.
She adored the child—perhaps because Annie reminded her of her younger self.
But the way her lover looked at the girl filled her with unbearable jealousy.
Soon she came to loathe the girl entirely.
Time passed.
She was no longer the radiant maiden she once was.
Her once-smooth skin grew dry; her once-proud chest sagged with age.
Her bright green eyes dimmed.
Eye bags formed.
Her face grew gaunt.
Years of dealing with dark powers altered her very appearance.
She ended up looking like a shriveled, sharp-eyed ghost of a woman.
And it made her hate her adopted daughter even more.
Look at that girl—
fresh, bright, full of life.
Of course he would like her.
So, she finally made her decision:
she would take the girl's body for herself.
Her target was clear.
But the ritual failed.
The girl was… special.
Not only did the possession not succeed—
she herself was unable to return to her original body.
She watched her corpse being carried away, dressed, made up, then buried.
Watched it rot.
Watched worms crawl through it.
But even that wasn't the worst part.
The longer she remained in this ghost-state, the more memories and emotions she lost.
Day by day, she felt herself unraveling.
She—better than anyone—knew what awaited her if this continued.
Desperate, she used her knowledge to anchor her existence:
she sealed herself inside a specially crafted glass sphere.
It prevented her soul from scattering…
but did nothing to stop the decay of her mind.
She wanted to steal another body.
But possessions required elaborate rituals and materials—
and in her current state, she couldn't perform them.
Nor could she ask anyone for help; the rules forbade it.
Just when despair seemed absolute…
Her family unexpectedly sent her a young man of her own bloodline.
Under certain special conditions, blood ties could bypass ritual limitations.
She was ecstatic.
Even if he was male, she would simply endure.
Survival was all that mattered.
But she never imagined the glass sphere she depended on would also chain her down—
locking her inside, preventing her from acting freely.
So she gave her last remaining servant instructions:
deliver her old black magic notebook to her dear nephew.
Give him power.
Give him courage.
Draw him closer…
and closer…
He would come.
She was certain of it.
And indeed, he came.
But to her shock—
he resisted her soul-whispering entirely.
She watched him walk away.
Watched him leave the castle gates.
No matter how she strained her fading spiritual power, he never turned back.
Her despair was absolute.
Will I be trapped here forever?
Days turned into nights.
Nights into endless darkness.
Her lover—once a frequent visitor—hadn't appeared for ages.
And even if she knew other practitioners, in this weakened state she dared not reveal herself.
Would she simply… rot here for eternity?
Then—
unexpectedly—
her beloved nephew returned.
Even though a young Thorn Church demon-hunter was with him, that didn't matter.
The boy was only a novice of the First Circle—
nothing compared to her abilities in soulcraft.
He would never notice her presence hidden inside the sphere.
So she trembled with excitement.
She rolled.
She tumbled.
She inched closer and closer toward her adorable, precious nephew.
As long as his eyes landed on her—
as long as he saw her—
as long as he—
Repeating the mantra over and over, she rejoiced as he finally looked down at the sphere beneath his foot.
Her chance.
She sprang forth.
The moment she shot into his eye, she felt euphoria—
the exhilarating rush of entering a living soul.
It was her first time experiencing such a thing.
She dove deeper, zigzagging through streaks of pale gray light in a vast, bottomless darkness.
In moments, she reached her destination.
A dark abyss.
Empty—
except for one glowing humanoid form floating at its center.
Eyes closed, bathed in a serene inner glow.
The youthful features unmistakably belonged to her nephew.
To her, it looked like the most delicious feast in the world.
His spirit radiated a sacred light that puzzled her—
but remembering the church hunter beside him, she dismissed the thought.
Driven by desperate hunger, she lunged.
But the moment she touched the surface of his soul—
even before reaching the core—
the light twisted.
In an instant, the gentle glow transformed into a figure wreathed in raging black smoke—
a vengeful wraith.
Horrified, she had no time to stop herself.
She collided head-on.
Black malice tore into her fragile spirit.
Her vision blurred.
Thoughts scattered.
Darkness swallowed everything.
"I—I tried to possess… a wraith? No… the Wraith Substitute?
Ph-Phantom Veil…? How—
How is this possible…?
He—he's only—"
Her scream was swallowed whole.
Her consciousness collapsed—
consumed entirely by the darkness.
And then, she was gone.